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Learner Reviews & Feedback for Number Theory and Cryptography by University of California San Diego

4.5
stars
607 ratings

About the Course

A prominent expert in the number theory Godfrey Hardy described it in the beginning of 20th century as one of the most obviously useless branches of Pure Mathematics”. Just 30 years after his death, an algorithm for encryption of secret messages was developed using achievements of number theory. It was called RSA after the names of its authors, and its implementation is probably the most frequently used computer program in the world nowadays. Without it, nobody would be able to make secure payments over the internet, or even log in securely to e-mail and other personal services. In this course we will start with the basics of the number theory and get to cryptographic protocols based on it. By the end, you will be able to apply the basics of the number theory to encrypt and decrypt messages, and to break the code if one applies RSA carelessly. You will even pass a cryptographic quest! As prerequisites we assume only basic math (e.g., we expect you to know what is a square or how to add fractions), basic programming in python (functions, loops, recursion), common sense and curiosity. Our intended audience are all people that work or plan to work in IT, starting from motivated high school students....

Top reviews

SS

Jul 31, 2020

I loved this course! It is unlike any I have taken before. All courses in this specialization have always included fun activities to make the taught content fun and understandable.

PW

Nov 21, 2018

I was really impressed especially with the RSA portion of the course. It was really well explained, and the programming exercise was cleverly designed and implemented. Well done.

Filter by:

76 - 100 of 134 Reviews for Number Theory and Cryptography

By Lucius

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Feb 3, 2022

Very good. Learning math with coding is a good way

By Akash V

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Aug 24, 2020

Really good course, kept my really good questions

By Henrique T Y

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Apr 22, 2021

A great course, I loved the cryptography part!!!

By SYED J H

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Jun 21, 2020

probably the best course of this specialization

By SHREYAS M C C

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Nov 29, 2020

One of the best courses I have taken so far!!

By Zhen X

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Jun 24, 2020

The last week of this course is very amazing!

By Gaoge Z

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Jul 31, 2020

Great RSA Quest. Fun and engaging!

By Duy B

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Apr 27, 2023

Great course about number and RSA

By Hans D E H

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Sep 18, 2020

I loved the quest, was very fun!

By Snehal P

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Jul 13, 2020

Excellent Course and Very Useful

By Chandrakala P

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May 3, 2020

Faculty gave good explaination

By Angel G

•

Jul 27, 2020

Excellent (Excelente)

By (FSE H - M H M T

•

Aug 29, 2021

Excellent Course

By Afnan A

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Aug 15, 2020

It was awesome!!

By SOWREDDY N R

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Apr 2, 2025

Excellent

By Elyorbek G

•

Mar 16, 2025

thank you

By Behro'z Q

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Mar 16, 2025

Very good

By TIPPAREDDYVARU C

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Jan 3, 2025

excellent

By Prof D Y V

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Jul 10, 2020

Excellent

By Dhruv P

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May 3, 2020

The best!

By Preetam K S

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Aug 3, 2020

Good one

By Ayan Y

•

Oct 13, 2023

khiu

By Satyam K M

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Jun 1, 2020

good

By Luis M V F

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Jan 11, 2020

In general, this course is much better than the previous 3, and I enjoyed all weeks but Week 4. I think Michael Levin should improve his explanations, and also try to give further examples about the algorithms he is talking about. I would say that it is worthy taking this course, but I really hope Week 4 can be improved.